A/N: As always, thank you to kat priestley, Missou64, Historianic, DocRock06, modscho, and LL3andReelaForever whom reviewed the last chapter and the rest of you that stuck with this story so far. I also hope you enjoy this chapter.

His old home was plain, but nice to look at. She found it rather big since they were used to living in an apartment together. Ray had offered her either his old room or his mom's to crash in when he dumped his suitcase in the middle of the bedroom. Neela told him that she was going to take a short nap, just so she could leave him alone for a little bit. When he left her, the bedroom seemed too quiet.

She used the bathroom attached to the room before she lay down on the bed.

A quick nap was all she needed to feel refreshed, and when she woke up an hour and a half later, she felt much better. Neela yawned and stretched before climbing out of bed. She stubbed her toe on Ray's guitar case which had somehow had already made its way on the floor and in her way. She hopped on her good foot for a moment until the pain passed, cursing him silently.

While doing so, she spotted a familiar board game box sticking out from under his bed. A smile crossed her face, and she took it downstairs with her. Ray was sprawled out across the couch, yelling at the TV, watching a football game.

"You play this game?" Neela inquired curiously, halting beside the arm of the couch.

"Neela, you're awake." He sat up and turned the TV down before frowning at the box she was hugging to herself. "I haven't played Scrabble since elementary school."

"I love Scrabble!" Neela exclaimed. "Let's play."

"You're a nerd," Ray laughed. He didn't know any adults who played Scrabble and liked it.

"Come on, it's fun."

He relented, telling her to set it up while he scrounged for something to eat in the fridge. "You want anything to drink? There's some cans of soda in here," he called back to her, and she thought she heard the microwave door close. She hoped he wasn't trying to cook anything; the house was too nice to burn down.

"Sure," she replied, pulling away from the pictures she was looking at on the mantle above the fireplace. There was a nice long coffee table they could use to set the game up on.

When Ray came back, he was loaded with food, somehow balancing two plates, two mugs, and a bag of chips. Neela jumped up to help him before he dropped it all, making a joke about how he should have been a waiter.

"What did you make?" she asked. Whatever it was smelled appetizing.

"You'll never believe what I found," he answered as she took a plate. "It's pizza. I managed to reheat it."

"Wow." And she sounded genuinely impressed. They weren't rubbery or anything and actually tasted good. He sat down on the floor across from her at the table.

"Are you ready to get your ass kicked?"

"Yeah," she snorted. "Who's the nerd here? I'm so kicking your ass."

"How about a bet if you're so confident then." He was leaning toward her with a challenging smile on his face. She hid her own smile by taking a bite of her food as he thought about the terms. Knowing him, he was thinking the dirtiest thing possible.

"Come on, Ray, I'm not stripping for you or anything."

He frowned before cheering up. "Fine, we'll play nice. If I win, you have to spend an all-nighter on the couch with me watching horror movies." He bit his lips to stop from laughing at the look on her face.

She blanched. Another all-nighter? She had barely survived the first one. She had been dead tired the next day and walked around the hospital like a zombie. It sounded fairly innocent, but she wasn't so sure from the look on his face.

"And if I win," she began. "I get to pick romances like The Notebook, so we can cry together and look like crap the next day."

He laughed briefly at that before putting out his hand to seal the deal. "I doubt I will cry, but you got a deal." They shook, and the game was on.

**********************

Two hours later, the game was still going on, and the chip bag was mostly empty between them. Most of Neela's words were medical, and she ignored some of Ray's more inappropriate ones.

"Nice try, Neela, but 'hungry' is only worth thirteen points, which keeps me in the lead," Ray said, leaning back against the bottom of the couch with a rather smug look. Neela had put 'needle' for the word before that, and it had only given her a pathetic seven points. She looked down at the almost completely full board and cursed. She couldn't make a word anywhere with her tiles, but she was looking carefully again just to be sure.

"Don't be a sore loser," Ray grinned wildly. He had this game bagged up. All he had to do was sit back and wait for her to admit…

"Oh, fine. I can't do anything. You win," she groaned.

"Hell, yeah!" He jumped up as she buried her face in her hands. How had she lost a game of Scrabble to him? Who knew he could even spell correctly?

Ignoring his victory dance, she gathered their empty dishes and took them to the kitchen. Ray helped her clean up before stretching his arms up over his head with a yawn.

"I'm going to jump in the shower. You can always come with me and we can conserve water," he suggested.

"Nice try," Neela replied, pushing him away from her.

She unpacked her own night clothes and relaxed as he disappeared into the bathroom. When she heard the shower turn on, she pulled out her cell phone and prayed it wasn't too late to call Abby. She dialed the number, and Abby answered before the first ring was the whole way out. It was like she was staring at her cell, waiting for it to ring.

"I've been waiting for this call all day!" her friend exclaimed. "Are you both okay? What's going on?"

Neela couldn't hold back the smile that crossed her face at Abby's concerned voice. She missed her already. Apparently Susan had kept their conversation private.

"Calm down, Abby. Both Ray and I are fine." Neela stole a glance at the bathroom as if Ray could somehow hear her conversation. She heard Abby sigh in relief and snatches of Ray singing in the shower in the background.

"Well, did you guys proclaim your love for each other and run off to elope or something?"

Neela completely missed the comment, having zoned out for a moment. "What was that?"

"Nothing. Don't worry about it. What's going on?"

"Oh, sorry," Neela apologized, smacking herself in the forehead with the palm of her hand. "Ray's parents are in the hospital. His dad isn't going to make it. That's why he came here. I'm just kinda here for support. It felt wrong to let him come alone."

Surprisingly, Abby backed up her decision, just as understanding as Susan had been. "Oh, no, what happened? I feel terrible."

"I might not be able to explain everything now. I didn't tell Ray I was telling you, and he's in the shower right now. But, they were in a car accident from what I heard."

There was silence on the other side of the phone for a moment. "Oh, wow. I wish there was a way I could help."

"I know. I wish I could do something more too. I'm just kind of here." Neela laughed softly for a moment. "Listen, Abby, there's one more thing before I go." Neela threw another worried glance at the bathroom door as if Ray would suddenly come out and hear everything. The shower had shut off so Neela knew her time to talk freely was rapidly running out.

"Anything. What's up?"

"I think I…" Neela felt herself choking on the words before she could get them out. Just say it already! It's only Abby, and she will take it best out of anyone in the ER. "You're so going to laugh at this." Neela took a deep breath and blurted out the words before they go stuck again. "I think I'm in love with Ray."

Neela cringed through Abby's silence and was shocked by her calm response.

"Good."

"What?!" Neela hardly could believe her ears. Her heart was pounding loudly in her chest.

"Everyone at County thinks you two are like together already anyway," Abby continued.

"What?!" Neela couldn't think of anything better to say, but before Abby could elaborate on it further, the bathroom door opened, and Ray came out. He was dressed in one of his band shirts and boxers, drying his hair with a towel and making it stand up in every direction. He chucked the towel back into the bathroom carelessly once he was done with it, and Neela jumped as if she was caught doing something bad.

"Sorry, I got to go. We'll talk tomorrow."

"Good luck!" Neela heard Abby say before she snapped the phone shut. She wasn't entirely sure what Abby meant by that, but she could feel her face turning red. She was glad for her darker skin color.

"Who was that?" Ray asked as he flopped down on his back onto the bed in the opposite space beside her.

"Abby." Neela forced a smile. "She was worried about us. I had to convince her that we weren't drunk and lost or kidnapped."

"Aw, so she does care," Ray replied as Neela headed for the bathroom. He sorted out the covers, climbing underneath them. "Um, Neela…" he added, causing her to pause.

"Yeah?"

"You can…sleep here if you want…stay with me, I mean. So, you don't have to go to my mom's room." He tried to sound causal, shrugging as if it was only for benefit. She knew him too well. She could detect the nervous hitch in his voice that he would murder her for if she told anyone Ray Barnett could be nervous. "Just a suggestion," he finished lamely. There was no grin or playful look to hint he was flirting around with her. He was completely serious.

Neela would be lying to herself if she said the idea of sleeping next to him wasn't appealing. She thought of Abby's words. What the hell. She could at least give him a fair chance.

"Sure," she replied easily. "Do me a favor and set your alarm. Reruns of Poker Tour are on at eight and I don't want to miss it."

His hopeful look changed into an expression she knew better. "You got it."

It didn't take long for her to get changed, brush her teeth, and wash her face, but when she came back into the bedroom, Ray was mostly asleep. It was easy to slip into bed with Ray barely noticing. It wasn't until she settled down in the covers with a sigh that he blinked his eyes open.

"We're going to get a lot of sleep tonight," she commented, knowing they both usually got only four or five hours of sleep on work nights. Sometimes two or three of those hours were naps during the day.

"Not if you don't stop talking," he mumbled, making Neela huff in fake anger.

"Good night then. Don't let me keep you from getting your beauty sleep…you need it." Neela laughed at her own joke, shaking hard enough to shake the rest of the bed. Ray rolled his eyes and turned his back to her.

"When did you become a comedian?" he asked. Neela ignored his sarcastic comment and closed her eyes to sleep. She fell asleep easier than any other night.

TBC. The next chapter we find out if his dad actually lives or dies.